Personal Responsibility?

One of the disturbing things I have noticed about Amway IBOs and IBO leaders is how they wlll tell downline to trust them. To trust them as they have already blazed a trail. No need to re-invent the wheel. Just ride the coattails of your upline to success. The system is proven. Many IBOs take this to heart and put forth tremendous effort. Then when they fail, upline will shun them and tell them that the failure is their own. That they are personally responsible for failure. Why should IBOs trust in their upline and then be held accountable for failure even if they did everything they were asked to do?

Now I am not talking about IBOs who sign up and do nothing, or never place an order. I do believe that the fact that many IBOs sign up and do nothing brings concerns about how these IBOs were recruited, but I do not recall ever seeing an IBO do nothing and then complain that Amway was a scam or anything like that. But many IBOs who put forth real effort should see success if they do as they are advised. But still, this doesn't seem to be the case when you analyze Amway in depth.

I have found, however, that many people who are critical of Amway and the systems, put forth much effort, did everything they were told, and did not find the success that upline promoted, or in some cases, guaranteed. My former sponsor was still active last I heard and has been in Amway for over 20 years. I do not believe he has ever gone beyond platinum, and I know that he was never a Q12 platinum. Some Amway apologists might see being a platinum as a bonus, but when you are hard core sold out to the systems, platinum is a break even or make a small profit business at best. . Factor in that time spent by husband and wife and these folks are breaking even or making a fraction of minumum wage or even taking losses, depending on your level of commitment.. Is this the dream that will allow you to buy mansions with a cash payment? A couple working for break even money is wasting their time. Their kids lose valuable time with parents and the net result is negligible. How many people will actually look back at their time in Amway and say the time was well spent?

What is also disturbing is how people will tout the system as responsible for any success, but hide the vast majority that the system doesn't help. Sure, some will succeed in Amway, but for every success, there are hundreds or more likely thousands who fail. And if you consider diamond as the benchmark of success, the failures could be in the millions. As I said, some succeed, but very very few in relation to the number who try. Going diamond is probably less common in the US than winning the power ball lottery. I've heard of more big lottery winners than new diamonds emerging in Amway North America.

Succeed and the systems and upline take credit, but fail or quit and it is your own responsibility even if you did the work. Are these the kinds of leaders or mentors you want advice from?